Coming off their first loss of the season, Paris were looking to bounce back against two of the strongest teams in the league. They needed to have a good showing against their opponents to keep their playoff hopes relatively safe. Things did not go as expected as Paris would only take a single map across both of their games this week, putting their playoff hopes seriously in doubt.

Last Week’s Matches

Vancouver Titans 4-0

This was always going to be Paris’ toughest match of the stage. Going up against arguably the best GOATs team in the league and possibly the best team in the league overall, Paris had their work cut out for them. It went just as well as you might expect. After the shellacking Paris took at the hands of Atlanta last week, hopes weren’t high. The issues Paris had from last week still hadn’t been fixed and mid-match they even made some changes in the hopes that they would be able to at least take a map from the Titans.

Terence “SoOn” Tarlier started the match on Zarya just like last week, and the issues were the same. SoOn was always behind in ultimate charge and his Graviton Surges were either getting no value or being thrown into the hungry Defense Matrix of Hyeon-Woo “JJANU” Choi. This would lead to Paris making the decision to bring George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha into the lineup. While it was nice to see ShaDowBurn back playing in the Overwatch League, he wasn’t able to solve Paris’ Zarya problems. He was marginally better than SoOn was but against a Zarya the caliber of Min-soo “SeoMinSoo” Seo, average Zarya play wasn’t going to cut it. Paris was beaten by the Titans and their playoff chances took a serious hit along with their map differential.

Result: Vancouver wins 4-0

San Fransico Shock 3-3

The second game for Paris’ hell week saw them going up against the San Fransico Shock. While things looked a bit better for Paris towards the end of the series, the underlying issues continued to be there for Paris. If this game proved anything it was how important team coordination is when it comes to the GOATs composition. The Shock seemed to have that in spades over Paris as their players were often caught out of position or their ultimate combos would not hit pay dirt. While San Fransico looked like a well-oiled machine, Paris looked like they need a good amount of WD-40 to help them out.

There were some bright spots though. ShaDowBurn upgraded the Eternal’s Zarya play noticeably but unfortunately against Jay “sinatraa” Won and his Zarya it still showed Paris’ need for a good Zarya player. Another bright spot was the fact that Paris was actually able to take a map in the series. Even though it was at the end of the series once it was over, Paris was able to win Dorado with some heroics from Finnbjörn “Finnsi” Jónasson.

Results: San Fransico wins 3-1

Player of the Week

Finnsi again takes player of the week, being one of the only consistent parts of the Paris squad. He was able to pull Paris’ feet out of the fire with a massive self-destruct on Dorado that allowed Paris to full hold the Shock and take one map this weekend. Finnsi has had moments of brilliance but the team around him has been struggling mightily. His D.Va play hasn’t been one of the biggest issues with Paris and if given the chance, Finnsi could have a big week next week against the Justice and the Fusion.

This Week’s Matches

Washington Justice 0-5

If there was ever a game that Paris could use to grab back some momentum and save their season it would be this game. The Justice is not the strongest team and it should be a game that Paris should win with relative ease. However, with Paris’ current track record in the past three games, anything can happen. This is not a match Paris can afford to lose in terms of their playoff chances. Anything less than a 4-0 would be seen as not good enough.

Paris will have to tighten up their team coordination against the Justice. While Washington hasn’t won a series yet they seem like they are relatively good at playing together. Paris had issues with players being out of position last week against both the Titans and the Shock. Perhaps Washington won’t be able to punish these mistakes as hard as a better team would but it would be nice to see Paris tighten up their team composition and perhaps use this match as a springboard to the playoffs

Prediction: Paris wins 3-1

Philadelphia Fusion 4-2

Paris’ last game will have major implications for them as it will most likely determine if they will be able to get into one of the last playoff spots. Philadelphia is coming off a five-game series win with one of the weakest teams in the league in the Los Angeles Valiant. Philadelphia has been relatively up and down throughout the season and Paris will be hoping that they show up as Dr. Jeckel rather than Mr. Hyde.

This series the supports will be a very important part of determining the victor. The Paris support line will be going up against one of the best in the league. The supports will have to play much safer and much more with the team as Philadelphia is a team that can easily punish Harrison “Kruise” Pond if he plays a little bit too aggressively

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Predicition: Paris wins 3-2

Player to Watch Out For

For this week it will be interesting to see if Paris continues to stick with ShaDowBurn on Zarya over SoOn. It seems that after the Vancouver game Paris is keen on sticking with ShaDowBurn. He has shown improvement on the hero and if he can continue this upward trajectory Paris might have the Zarya player that they need. Along with this, ShaDowBurn will be facing his old team, which could bring out his best.

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